Chapter 4: First year of an ex-human in Beastars.

Third POV

One year has passed since the death of Surya and the hatching of Cahaya and it was his first birthday, many things have happened in between these events.

FLASHBACK

The month after the rebirth of Charles the human in Cahaya the Ophidia-Caudata

hybrid, the first things that weirded him out if we ignore his body was the fact that his Dad is a black and blue anthropomorphic salamander and that he has LEGS, he wanted his legs back, damnit! 

He also noticed the lack of scent of his supposed new snake Mom instantly, he rapidly put two and two together she was away or dead and with how gloomy the adult salamander looked and that he has a stump for a tail, big wound on his arms as well as missing fingers, clear signs of self-harm. 

Seeing his chance of having a new mother being destroyed in front of his eyes made both of his two little hearts crack and knowing that he lost two Mothers in both of his lives, unknown to everyone something broke inside of him.

The only good news was his Dad becoming physically as good as new two weeks later.

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We can see the figure of a naga smaller than a forearm swimming after a little fish in a pool while his Dad was looking at him with anxiousness if the larvae were to hurt himself, joy with how happy Cahaya was about catching and eating his first prey, in this case, the fish who was currently seeing his life pass before his beady eyes but also depression because he reminded him of Surya.

'Must catch little Fishy!', was the grand scheme of a very much naked and excited reincarnator who unconsciously was using his new senses such as the ability to feel vibration and heat better than any human could imagine.

His actions may seem childish because they were but the hormones and instincts of a newborn are uncontrollable even more for a hybrid, the body says YES and the mind says NO sadly for his pride the body has a bigger say in the matter making also affect a part of the mind in saying YES.

*crunch* And the fishy was fucked before he could even realize it, yes a he, fish were also sapient but aquatic animals didn't care they followed the law of eat or be eaten if land carnivores and herbivores were to witness this they will most likely be horrified.

The good thing is that the larvae didn't know that he was eating someone alive.

*munch munch* While munching and swallowing big piece after big piece his gills thrilled happily at how good the raw flesh, organs and bones of the fish tasted even if Fishy was annoying for a part of his human mind and strangely stimulating for his new body when he felt the fish struggle for his life until the very end.

It was his first real meal after all the only things he ate earlier this month were his egg just after he woke up, a peculiar and memorable experience to be sure, and a strange porridge-like paste that smelled of insects, raw and cooked fish, a variety of vegetables, cereals and fruits all of this ingredient farmed or captured by his Dad, it smelled somewhat strange and also tasted strange but his instincts were ok with it, so he ate this baby food copycat that he assumed was made to help his newborn body develop better.

Finishing swallowing his first victim and feeling him arriving in his stomach placed somewhere between where a human stomach should be and ending after where a human pelvis would be, Cahaya let out a happy burp that came with reddish bubbles and a fish bone.

'Delicious, who would have thought that living fish would taste so GOOD, especially the way it squirmed in my jaw and on my tongue before it di-what was I thinking right now?!' He didn't want to admit it, killing fish and eating them like he just did, didn't phase him one bit, even if some part of his human mind was sickened by eating them alive.

No, he was denying the fact that HE was feeling some kind of twisted sense of pleasure and superiority when the fish was struggling in his maw while slowly being eaten alive by HIM, when HE could have just bitten it, injected his venom to kill it quickly and as possible painlessly well painlessly is debatable with his mother species but this little piece of information will be revealed to him later.

He was jolted out of his little world by the happy voice of his Dad speaking in this strange language of his that sounded like someone was drowning.

Cahaya quickly swam back to the surface and jumped out of the pool to land on the squishy ground around it, he smiled and thrilled his gills happily while looking in his father's direction and blurted out in Japanese with his childish voice his first word, a big "Dwad!" was heard.

His 'Dwad' stopped moving and proceeded to faint from happiness and pride on the spot.

*thud* As well as hitting his head on the ground.

We can hear in the background the voice of a worried larva repeating 'Dwad!' while slowly slithering toward his drooling father on the ground.

END OF FLASHBACK

Cahaya POV

This first year of my new life was interesting,g to say the least. I was acting like a child, I felt as if my mental age had regressed and it worried me a bit before I realized; I couldn't do anything to stop it so why worry when it will only bring problems in the future. 

I wasn't as helpless as a human child, I could swim at one week old, at two I could slither on land easily and at three I could hunt small fish.

I have TWO hearts on both sides of my chest. I don't want to know how, I don't want to know why but I seem to be healthy and I consider myself lucky to not have bicephaly like those poor pet reptiles that are only bred for that quirk.

I also moulted a lot. It was every two weeks for the first four months of my life, and now it's every four months as ironic as it sounds.

First, I did it mostly on instinct, it was strange, then I did get used to it and it became somewhat normal to feel the urge to get out of my skin and scales when I felt too tight in them. It also felt good like a massage even if my scale, as well as my skin, were tender. I was more aggressive and anxious, before, during and after a moult.

Lost in my thoughts with an empty look in my big eyes and wide open, I didn't hear my Dad calling my name and snapping his finger in front of my snout.

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Third POV

"Cahaya *snapping finger sound*, hello Cahaya to Earth *stronger snapping finger sound*, Caa-haa-yaa *sigh* again lost in his little world.", exasperated by his son antic Mamoru, got a eureka moment he opened the cupboard under one big terrarium containing hundreds of crickets, one of their many insect farms and grabbed the water sprayer.

Getting behind the infant hybrid, aiming behind the scaled protection hiding his gills when on land and he sprayed water on them for three whole seconds. Jolting Cahaya out of his thoughts, his head immediately made a 180-degree turn, in a way that would have made a possessed Regan Macneil proud. 

His father, caught off guard by this action, smiled when he saw the face of his pouting and slightly angry snakelet.

"'hwat wasss that fwor? 'hwy dwid Dad do thisss to me?" ( What was that for? Why did Dad do this to me?), questioned the larvae with his high-pitched voice and a glare trying to look as serious as possible but failing as his Dad only chuckled in response. 

'What a meany', was the babyish thought of the hybrid just to start getting serious again. 'I am still bad at speaking with my snout and forked tongue, I need to fix this asap because it's humiliating for an ex-young adult to speak like I did and feel a part of you be proud about it.'

"Hey buddy, you're spacing out again.", he said with a smirk on his black snout before opening it he said in happiness, "Happy birthday to you my little baby larva!", his face got gloomy before sifting back into one of happiness. "Your mother would have been overjoyed to be with us today, she must be incredibly proud of you where she is now and remembers that she will always love you no matter the beast you become in the future."

Cahaya didn't understand everything but did get most of it, making him feel in his hearts a great amount of warmth as well as sadness, his mind was starting to get fuzzy with emotions. 

It got cleared when his Dad said "I will start your education, first by teaching you how to talk and read in both Japanese and Seaspeak."

The snakelet responded with a happy thrill and launched himself at his Dad.